It is difficult to misquote silence. Many effective communicators prefer to press the mute button when everybody expects them to speak. There would always be requests to share a thought on a scandal, especially when you carry an official voice, but thoughts kept unsaid cannot muddy the waters. However, when a little slip is made in an attempt to save the situation, a whole new scandal is born. When you are greeted ‘Good morning’ by a kind neighbour, you don’t always have to answer. It is a greeting; not a question.

You cannot blame Top Story’s Evans Mensah for asking the questions, especially after party officials had gone forth to state their positions on a not so unusual road accident involving the vice-presidential candidate of a party. Dr Bawumia and his entourage had suffered a road accident around Bole, where their vehicle had somersaulted as a result a burst tyre. Luckily, all occupants in the vehicle came out unscathed. People of faith would usually believe this was a miracle from God. Others may choose to call it luck. Accidents happen during travels and this was one of them. End of story.

Even in the most superstitious traditional community, this would not warrant explanations from witchdoctors and soothsayers. Yet, in a modern democracy–one that had survived familiar hiccups and important trials–spokespersons of political organisations trade accusations and implicate innocent parties in a delicate issue involving precious Ghanaian lives that have been spared. Incidentally, they are either trained lawyers, educationists or Harvard schooled gentlemen. The NPP General Secretary, Owusu-Afriyie, suspects that since the accident had happened on the Bole road where the president hails from, the NDC may have planned it. He also believes the plot is aimed at eliminating Bawumia because he is a plaintiff in the election fraud case currently before the Supreme Court. Meanwhile he is not clear whether the NPP has made an official report to the police.

Enter the NDC General Secretary, Johnson Nketiah, who also assumes that two different monologues should necessarily form a dialogue. He brings an equally worrying perspective to the issue, accusing the NPP of working the vice-presidential candidate’s elimination from within their own ranks. He speaks about tensions that had greeted the candidate’s selection because he is not a bonafide party member. That Dr Bawumia is new to the Danquah-Busia-Dumbo tradition, according to General Mosquito, would be enough grounds to do him in. In his place would be a party candidate. Communication, even political communication, should not be a minefield. Information minister Mahama Ayariga shouldn’t have spoken to this issue. It wasn’t necessary, and he justified that by making an unnecessary mess of it all. In was quite heart-warming for Ayariga to advise a man who had survived a terrible road accident to check his tyres before travelling. That may be the sound bite of the year unless he flip-flops again on another occasion to beat his own very shaky record in little over a month.

Conversation is dead in our country. We have defined a formula for ourselves where insults are pimped out for insinuations and innuendos, and the respondents betrayed to satisfy silly whims and parochial political interests. There is often no carefully mapped out communication strategy in place to disseminate policy and respond to queries. It either comes out as contrite and brutal, or careless and insensitive. It seems both the NDC and NPP have not had any good communications/General Secretary since Nana Ohene Ntow. Sir John is an apology and Mosquito lives his name by sucking away with very little mercy. For a long time, we have chosen good communicators at the party level by looking for those who can employ bombast and loud voice to smart-speak the opposing party. But they have not become smart in the process; they have been complete let-downs.

At the same time, we have some pretty clever communicators in the country. The school of communication studies and GIJ produce some quality communicators every year. Well, more than that, we now have professionals from some prestigious institutions in the west. If industry has swallowed the very best, then it is about time industry coughed them back to better mange our poor political communications. It detracts from our fine democracy (well our not so fine democracy, considering that our previous elections are still in contention) that our communication managers are doing such a terrible job.

Mahama Ayariga may not be doing a great job, but which one of his predecessors did better? Elizabeth Ohene didn’t bring her BBC flair to the portfolio she held under President Kufour. Andrew Awini? Well, he was just alright, not exactly fantastic. John Tia Akolgu, Koku Anyidoho and their team of communicators were not deemed to have left great footprints on the shores of political communications in Ghana. Former President Rawlings was said to have texted his spokesperson to draft a dismissal letter for himself. If the best are yet to come, then they should be quick with it. Somebody joked that Komla Dumor was coming home to stamp his large feet on the situation. That didn’t come from the Flagstaff/Jubilee House.

Kwesi Tawiah-Benjamin

bigfrontiers@gmail.com